Course manager

Kresten Kromphardt

Semester schedule

Spring (13- + 3-week period)

ECTS

7,5

Language of instruction

English

Course type

Compulsory

Qualifications

Competences corresponding to participation in the courses – Project 2 Applied microbiology, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, Chemical unit operations, Mathematics 1 and Statistics as well as General and organic chemistry – are recommended. It is also recommended to follow the course Fermentation in parallel with this course.

Objectives

The objective of the course is to provide the students with competences in project-oriented work with problems relative to industrial fermentation. These competences will include project management, design, execution, and documentation of the progress of the project.The students will be able to design and monitor a fermentation process using their knowledge of process kinetics and microbiology.

With a basis in scientific literature, dissemination of the project will be by written and oral communication. All aspects should be undertaken in the context of the Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate (CDIO) principles.

Furthermore, the students must acquire knowledge about and competences pertaining to the application of general scientific-theoretical methods relative to the solution of the project report. The course will provide the student with an insight into the engineering profession's culture and field of activity, including the professions interaction with the surrounding world

Content

Fermentation and fermentation technology:

• Experimental design with a special focus on datacollection and -treatment
• Application of statistical methods for the assessment of fermentation processes

Project work, laboratory skills and communication:

• Project work with focus on management and resource administration
• Team roles in relation to commitment, motivation, and division of labour
• The design, planning, and execution of experimental trials
• Report writing with focus on method description, result presentation, discussion, and the use of references
• Journal club sessions with a focus on the writing style of scientific articles and reports

Theory of science:

• Introduction to basic scientific methods and theories
• The scientific method
• Good scientific practice including trial design, documentation, source criticism, and the use of references
• The engineering profession and the engineer's field of activity

The project element will also include a practical part.

Learning targets

On completion of the course, the student is expected to be able to:

Knowledge

• Describe and apply basic concepts within method, sociology, technology, and ethics within an engineering context

Skills

• Design experiments with a focus on data collection and data treatment
• Work together in a project group with a fermentation technological problem-oriented issue
• Organize and plan resources for a project including the practical elements
• Reflect on the project groups motivation, commitment, and division of labour in relation to team roles
• Apply statistical methods in the assessment of executed fermentations

Competences

• Design, plan, and independently execute experimental trials in laboratory-scale fermentation systems for the purpose of investigating fermentation technological problems
• Prepare a technical project report to assess and provide a perspective on the results of a practical process
• Incorporate scientific literature in the technical project report and apply references pursuant to scientific standards
• Reflect on applied methods, describe strengths and weaknesses, and compare with other acquired methods
• Develop an oral presentation of essential methods, results, conclusions, and perspectives relative to the project report
• Explain the group's application of tools for project and resource management and reflect the potential for future project work

Teaching method

Seminars, problem solution, project supervision, and project work as well as company visits.

Qualifications for examination participation

• Fulfilment of the requirements for compulsory participation as given in the study programme part 2.4
• Participation in all planned company visits
• Participation in all planned activities with external lecturers
• Submission of a Project introduction comprising of a literature review of the chosen area of fermentation, an overview of the most essential experimental techniques, and hypothesis and research questions for the project report

If a student does not fulfill the requirements for compulsory participation, she/he can be excluded from the project group and hence, shall do an individual project. 

All project deliverables shall be performed and submitted pursuant to guidelines set out by the course manager.

Examination and aids

• Submission of a project report
• Oral examination at which each group will present their project together (20 min.). This is followed by individual examinations by way of questions from a panel of instructors. Duration of individual examination: 20 min. pr. student.

Permitted aids: Project report. No access to the internet.

In the final assessment, the following elements constitute:

Oral examination (50%) and project report (50%). Each element of the exam must be passed in order to pass the course.

Marking 

External

Grading

The 7-point grading scale